Ferguson, Adam
1723-1816
Adam Ferguson was born in Logierait in Perthshire. He gained his first degree from St Andrews and went on to study divinity at Edinburgh. He served as a chaplain in the Black Watch regiment and was present at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745. After a spell as librarian in the Advocate's Library in Edinburgh he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy in 1759 and of Moral Philosophy in 1764 at the university there. Ferguson almost lost his position, due to his prolonged absences in Italy and France, where he made the acquaintance of Voltaire.
In 1778 he was appointed secretary to the commission sent by Lord North to Philadelphia to treat with the colonists.
As a native Gaelic speaker Ferguson realised that the Ossianic poems of James MacPherson were not a hoax, as was believed by many in British society. David Hume said that he would not believe they were genuine, even if 'fifty bare arsed Highlanders' claimed them to be so.
Ferguson's academic output included the History of the Progress and Termination of the Roman Republic (1783), Principles of Moral and Political Science (1792) and his Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767). His insights have been seen as the origin of the subject of sociology.
Further reading: Merolle, Vincenzo, (ed.), The Correspondence of Adam Ferguson, (1995)
Jack, Malcolm, Corruption & progress: the eighteenth-century debate, (New York, 1989)
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